It is known that throughout the construction of an aircraft, tests must be carried out in order to check the correct functioning of equipments and systems installed on that aircraft. It is also known that, during the final assembly phase of a transport aircraft, it is particularly necessary to check the flight control system which generally and usually comprises a plurality of flight controls of the electrical type and/or hydraulic type. This latter check is part of the most time-consuming stages of the assembly line. This is because, in order to test the flight controls, it is necessary to activate an existing functional mode on each of the flight control computers in order to be able to test the conformity of the aircraft with respect to its definition dossier. In particular, in order to check the wiring (wire by wire) and to guarantee the integrity of the flight control system, the functional implementation of the flight control computers imposes, because of the complexity of said system, the use of tools for simulating the environment of the aircraft and the setting up of complex and exhaustive procedures.
The tools for simulating and configuring the aircraft used in this final assembly phase encounter significant reliability problems. In fact, experience has shown that about 80% of faults detected at present are related to these tools and not to the system itself.
Moreover, on a redundant system such as an electrical flight control system, as soon as a fault appears, the latter is made passive and the system is automatically reconfigured in order that another flight control computer or another component of said flight control system provides the defective function using another means. In such a situation, the fault is not therefore directly detectable. This operating mode consequently makes it very difficult to locate a fault.
Moreover, when the aircraft is in the test or operational phase, the simulation tools used in the construction phase are no longer available such that the location of anomalies or faults then becomes even more complex and longer to carry out. In this case, a location is generally carried out by means of measurements (continuity, insulation, etc.) carried out directly on the wiring of the aircraft and by exchanging components. Such location therefore makes it necessary to have the availability of persons providing the maintenance of very extensive means.
Consequently, the usual test procedures and systems, such as mentioned above, are not completely satisfactory. In particular, they are of high cost and necessitate a very long testing time.